After Note 7 Fiasco, Samsung Likely To Entrust The Japanese With S8's Battery

Samsung's mobile chief Koh Dong-jin explaining just what went wrong with the Note 7 at a news conference in Seoul on January 23. Photo: SeongJoon Cho/Bloomberg

Samsung recently (and finally) officially explained the cause of the Galaxy Note 7 battery fires, pinning the blame solely on faulty batteries. As has been reported to death already, Samsung sourced all of its batteries from two factories: Samsung's own SDI and Hong Kong-based, China-owned Amperex Technology. And so with the Galaxy S8, Samsung's taking no chances and will go with someone else.

According to the Nikkei Business Daily, Samsung is close to securing a supply deal with Japan's Murata Manufacturing for the S8's batteries. The report states that Murata should replace Amperex as one of two suppliers. It's not known who the other supplier will be, but it's possible Samsung is sticking with its own SDI plant.

Replacing Chinese batteries with Japanese-made ones could be seen in some ways as a quick reputation boost, since (fair or not), many people in the west (and even many in Hong Kong) associate Chinese production with inferior quality. In Hong Kong and many Asian countries, in fact, Japanese production have the opposite reputation -- that of the highest quality (there's a reason why Japanese milk and beauty products cost way more than China-made ones all throughout Asia).

This is a leaked image of the Samsung Galaxy S8. It's from notably reliable leaker Evan Blass, and fits all the previous rumors, so this is very, very likely the real thing. Photo: Evan Blass

The S8, as many leaks have revealed in the recent weeks, is looking to be another Samsung product that really pushes the boundaries of current smartphone tech. The phone is likely going to have a whopping 6-inch plus screen (more than half an inch larger than the S7 Edge), while still maintaining roughly the same overall size due to drastically trimming the top and bottom bezels.

(It's worth mentioning that the LG G6 will also have a similar "tiny bezel" look, as this will be the new smartphone trend going forward)

I'm a Chinese-American journalist in Hong Kong, covering consumer tech in Asia. Before focusing on this exciting beat, I was a general culture writer and editor with bylines in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Sports Illustrated, New York Magazine, among others.
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